Gobionellus oceanicus
Highfin Goby
NS
GNR
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Gobiidae (Gobies)
Gobionellus
Gobionellus oceanicus (Highfin Goby)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Low keel in front of dorsal fin; very elongate caudal fin; terminal and rather oblique mouth; lower jaw even with upper jaw or slightly projecting; upper jaw extending to posterior margin of eye in males and to pupil in females; thin lips; complete dorsal fold of upper lip across symphysis; jaw teeth in narrow bands; outer row of upper jaw very slightly enlarged; inner row of lower jaw near symphysis enlarged; tongue slightly emarginate; gill opening extends to ventral margin of pectoral fin base; numerous gill rakers on first arch; measurements (% SL): head length 20.1%–22.5%, snout length 5.4%–6.7%, eye diameter 3%–4.8%, upper jaw length 8.4%–10.9%, pre-dorsal-fin length 25.5%–30.4%, pelvic fin length 16.8%–22.6%, caudal fin length 31%–59.5%, body depth 10.2%–13.3%; pectoral fin with 19 rays; first dorsal fin with six spines, second, third, and fourth spines greatly elongated; second dorsal fin with one spine and 13 rays; pelvic fins united by membrane to form broad disc; pelvic fin spines joined by frenum; anal fin with one spine and 13 or 14 rays; body and part of head covered with scales; scales on upper operculum and dorsal surface of head cycloid; scales on body ctenoid; cheek with variable number of scattered cycloid scales; 56 to 76 scales in horizontal series; vertebrae number 26: 10 precaudal and 16 caudal
Light brown, slightly darker on dorsal section of head and bases of dorsal fins, and lighter ventrally; large elongate blotch on flank below spiny dorsal fin; two to four small spots on anterior margin of spiny dorsal fin
Distribution
Western Atlantic from southern Florida to Brazil, including the northern and southern Gulf of Mexico
Northern Gulf of Mexico (apparently rare)
Habitat Associations
Shallow waters, estuaries, submerged vegetation
Submerged vegetation
Biology
Filamentous algae, ostracods, copepods, and insect larvae
Maximum known size is about 300 mm SL
Adults are found on shallow mud or mud-sand bottoms in turbid and generally brackish water near estuaries (Ref. 13628). Also encountered in weedy backwaters (Ref. 7251) and hyper-saline waters (Ref. 13628) with salinity ranging from 0.15 to 37.2 ppt (Ref. 97140).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external. Benthic spawner.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-08-16. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Ginsburg 1932
Ginsburg 1953 (as G. hastatus and G. gracillimus, in part)
Springer and Woodburn 1960 (as G. hastatus)
Dawson 1969b (as G. hastatus, in part)
Hoese and Moore 1977 (as G. hastatus, in part)
Hoese and Moore 1998
Robins and Ray 1986 (as G. hastatus, in part)
Pezold and Grady 1989
Boschung 1992
Schaldach et al. 1997 (as G. hastatus, in part)
Smith 1997
Castro-Aguirre et al. 1999 (as G. hastatus, in part)
Murdy and Hoese 2002b
Pezold 2004b
Cole, K.S. (1990) Patterns of gonad structure in hermaphroditic gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae). Environ. Biol. Fishes 28(1-4):125-142.
Pezold, F. (2004) Redescriptions and synonymies of species of the American-west African genus Gobionellus (Teleostei: Gobiidae) with a key to species. Copeia 2004(2):281-297.
Viana, A.P., F. Lucena-Frédou, F. Ménard, T. Frédou, V. Ferreira, A.S. Lira and F. Le Loc'h (2016) Length-weight relations of 70 fish species (Actinopterygii) from tropical coastal region of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. Acta Ichthyol. Et Pisc. 46(3):271-277.
Comments On Gobionellus oceanicus